2010 April Good Bye Big Old Doug

The old Douglas fir in our back yard recently began looking a little bit sick to me. Since we prune the "Dougs" every few years so we can keep them beautiful and healthy, I called in our usual arborist to evaluate. He said it probably had root rot and would be very expensive to remove.

Nigel suggested a second opinion. Another ISA certified arborist came out and confirmed more-or-less what the first one said, but couldn't say what was wrong, just that the tree was stressed and becoming a hazard.

It broke my heart to make the decision to let a 145' tall tree, 5 1/2' wide at the base be sawed to pieces. But Doug was less than 25' from the house and it would not be pretty in one of our NW wind storms.

All said and done, Doug was in OK shape despite his lack of foliage (though it probably affected his ability to produce food). We probably could have gotten 3-5 years more out of the tree (or more??). But who's to say: it may have been too dangerous to take down in pieces by then.

Because Doug stood alone (vs. a timber tree with far fewer limbs), he could not be used for structural lumber.

I wish I had a do-over on this one. I'd watch the tree more closely for the next few years and enjoy the shade it provided and wildlife it hosted (not to mention how it probably helped compensate for some fraction of my carbon footprint). It's going to be one very hot summer, even if we don't see any more 108F days.